A lane with many roots
Our introduction to the lane was not the best – it was narrow, and raining, and we couldn’t find where we were looking for. Being on a slight incline, it looked and felt like a river coming down. Turfed out of the car, we eventually made our way up there on foot. Despite the uncertain beginning, the beauty of the lane, nestled in the Warleggan Valley, revealed itself to us gradually.
First there was the pod, where we were staying. A timber globe tree house in a wood with the river Bedalder nearby. It was just big enough for my daughter and myself, with two pull-out beds and a wood burner. Near to the pod is a small hut where we cooked dinner and made tea. Near the river, a fire place where we roasted marshmallows.
Then there was the sheep. We saw them from a small field just off the lane running and baaing along into another field, followed by a genuine female shepherd. She herded them into the road and up the lane to their sleeping quarters, a large shed. It was magical and timeless to watch.
Most unexpected of all was an eccentric, Neo-Gothic, turreted Arts and Crafts-style looking house on the lane. The grand building, called Barley Splatt, was owned by artist Graham Ovenden and his wife Annie, who were part of the Ruralists movement in the 1970s, and described life in the house, along with its 22 acres of land, as a “new Eden”.
The Ruralists were founded by pop artist legend Peter Blake (who I’ve seen at a car boot sale) and his wife at the end of the 1960s, when they moved to Somerset after becoming fed up with London life.
Inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites and all things quintessentially English, including Shakespeare, cricket, Alice in Wonderland, Elgar, Samuel Palmer and Thomas Hardy, the aim was to “paint about love, beauty, joy, sentiment and magic”. Blake was joined by fellow artists Graham and Annie Ovenden, Graham and Ann Arnold and David Inshaw.
Jon, the friendly owner of the tree house, introduced me to Pat, the son of Graham and Annie Ovenden (who I’d briefly met before), and he kindly agreed to show me around the Lost Meadow Gallery (not yet open to the public), next door to Barley Splatt.
The Badminton Game (1972) by David Inshaw
Wonderful work was on the walls by former Ruralist artists as well as others, including Donna Festa and John Griffin, and much of it oil paintings of nature; Annie Overden’s pictures of trees are stunning. Pat remained quiet about his father, telling me to look him up online, which I did later.
It seemed all wasn’t quite paradise in the “new Eden” of the 1970s, where children ran wild, free and naked. Graham Overden’s paintings of young, naked girls caused controversy but little else until the 2000s, when his work was accused of being pornographic and former child models for the artist accused him of sexual abuse. In 2013 he was jailed for two years and his once-popular work removed from many galleries.
The Ruralists continued to paint and exhibit. Despite Peter Blake moving back to London in 1979, he named a 1982 paintting, I May Not Be a Ruralist Anymore but Today I Saw a Fairy in My Garden in Chiswick, hinting that magic is everywhere, even in W4. The Ruralists final show together was in 2007.
Previously on Barnflakes
Untitled (Highland cattle, Bodmin Moor)
A Cornish hideout